At Preshil in Melbourne, we reflect on how we can best facilitate an education that is responsive to the needs of the individual. At our core remains an unshakeable commitment to encouraging all children to set and achieve their own goals, and to be respected as individuals in their own right.
Agency is a fundamental human right. When students and families join a school, conversation should be invited that celebrates individual purpose. Students, in consultation with parents and teachers, should have the right to determine what success looks like to them, what they want to achieve and the ways their school can help them in this pursuit.
The belief that students should be nurtured and challenged in an atmosphere that inspires creativity and independent thinking led to Preshil’s implementation of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programmes school-wide. The IB liberates the school from a competitive system that demands standardised learning and pits students against their classmates.
From Kindergarten through to Year 12, Preshil students flourish in a broad and intellectually vibrant education. Together with the core IB curriculum, the school has thriving Language, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Electives and Careers programs, all of which come together to challenge and inspire the individual learner to explore an extensive range of concepts, subjects and pursuits.
The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) provides a rigorous, inquiry-based framework and allows a seamless continuity from the Primary School to the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) in the Secondary School.
The conceptual play program at the Kindergarten fosters a sense of curiosity and social connectedness. The broad curriculum is enriched by Bush Kinder, giving students regular opportunities to engage with and explore nature.
Within the PYP, the concept of personal agency expands to include global citizenship and action. Voice, choice and ownership are key elements in the Primary Years Programme’s inquiry-based curriculum. Our green environment and outdoor spaces complement our child-designed classrooms and innovative makers space.
The Middle Years Programme (MYP, Years 7 to 10) affords an intellectually vibrant curriculum that respects and supports the individual learner. The outstanding Programme emphasises authentic challenge and creativity and is enriched by camps and real-world experiences.
Upon the completion of the MYP, the Diploma Programme delivers a large and flexible array of subject choices, addressing the needs of the whole person at the highest level in a curriculum that supports individual pursuits. The school boasts outstanding success in helping students achieve their first preference for their chosen pathways in life after school.
As a result of this diverse and accessible curriculum that accommodates individual choice and independent learning, the school continues to produce deeply capable graduates who have developed the courage to question, to find their own voice and to become responsible and active global citizens.